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Did a usual weekly 50 percent water change yesterday. Temp dropped about 7 degrees from the usual 79 degrees. Three females tubes were down within hour. Today one of my WC females is holding a big mouthfull. The other two still have tubes down. My alpha is chasing but the females are not in the mood yet.

My f1 females are three years old. They have never given me fry. I have no clue why. They are 8 inches. They have spawned but swallow within a day. I had a theory about stripping fry years ago. My theory was that fry that have been stripped early do not hold very well as adults. It has to do with the imprinting process in mouth brooding cichlids. No scientific data to back this up but it seems to be true with my f1's.

That's a long time, I thought they would have gotten it down by now.. That theory seems very plausible..I have had all my females spawned twice but that one female was the only only to get it right.. How often do you get spawn from the f1s?

Maybe It's also the reason why I don't see fry for sale that often....

I have 2 WC holding now. 2 f1s also spawned within the last two days. They are not holding as of this evening. The WC females still have their bulge. Mine spawn every couple of months and all at the same time or a least a few days apart.

I invested a lot of money in my WC bulu group. I also invested a lot in f1s, raised them up and sold of the males. I kept only females to breed with my wc alpha. This has not really worked out for breeding purposes. I think everyone was hoping that the F1s would start producing a lot of fry to fill the demand in the hobby. However, it appears this is not happening. Very few people have successful bred the f1s. I think this is the reason why the cost of f1 bulu fry is rising back up to the $60-80 range.

I actually have two males now. I had six at one time. The alpha killed two I sold the rest before they turned up dead and I flushed more money down the toilet. Toneloc has one of my males which just gave him fry My alpha is very happy. It's all about finding the right mix. Some can keep a one on one ratio with no incidents. I just could not because the alpha wants to be king and he systematically eliminates the competition.

I was thinking the lack of other males might have something to do with the females not going to term. Maybe there's a step missing in the colony dynamic with only one male present? If not a Red Bulu male, what if you introduced one or more males of a different variant? Just thoughts running in my head.

Somehow, I don't think that fry get mouth brooding "know how" by being in the mommas mouth. Rather it's an instinct which is basically in the "source code", aka DNA. I think there's something else at play here besides that.

Negative on the lack of males. I have tried it all different ways. Geost has the same issue with his f1's. His ratio is more male heavy than mine and they are the same age as mine. Remember, my WC females breed with the male in the same tank with no problem. The issue is specifically with the f1 females.

I have kept Longola and Moshi with the group. No change. I have kept trophs with the group. No change.

I am just glad the WC's spawn. A few more clutches and the WC females I bought will be paid for.

There is something in nature called imprinting. I remember reading a study posted here on the forum sometime back about stripping effecting imprinting on f1's. It seems I am not the only person having the problem with the f1's holding. Who knows. Who knows why my Moba fronts bred every two months and my Kitumba's never did. This is what keeps me in the hobby